Default behavior of "git push" without a branch specified

Debajit_2288585 0
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I use the following command to push to my remote branch:

git push origin sandbox

If I say

git push origin

does that push changes in my other branches too, or does it only update my current branch? I have three branches: master, production and sandbox.

The git push documentation is not very clear about this, so I'd like to clarify this for good.

Which branches and remotes do the following git push commands update exactly?

git push 
git push origin

origin above is a remote.

I understand that git push [remote] [branch] will push only that branch to the remote.

git-branch git-push branch git
13 Answers

You can control the default behavior by setting push.default in your git config. From the git-config(1) documentation:

push.default

Defines the action git push should take if no refspec is given on the command line, no refspec is configured in the remote, and no refspec is implied by any of the options given on the command line. Possible values are:

  • nothing: do not push anything

  • matching: (default before Git 2.0) push all matching branches

    All branches having the same name in both ends are considered to be matching.

  • upstream: push the current branch to its upstream branch (tracking is a deprecated synonym for upstream)

  • current: push the current branch to a branch of the same name

  • simple: (new in Git 1.7.11, default since Git 2.0) like upstream, but refuses to push if the upstream branch's name is different from the local one

    This is the safest option and is well-suited for beginners.

The simple, current and upstream modes are for those who want to push out a single branch after finishing work, even when the other branches are not yet ready to be pushed out

Command line examples:

To view the current configuration:

git config push.default

To set a new configuration:

git config push.default current
Brian_Lindauer_258480

git push origin will push all changes on the local branches that have matching remote branches at origin As for git push

Works like git push <remote>, where <remote> is the current branch's remote (or origin, if no remote is configured for the current branch).

From the Examples section of the git-push man page

user_107380

(March 2012)
Beware: that default "matching" policy might change soon
(sometimes after git1.7.10+):

See "Please discuss: what "git push" should do when you do not say what to push?"

In the current setting (i.e. push.default=matching), git push without argument will push all branches that exist locally and remotely with the same name.
This is usually appropriate when a developer pushes to his own public repository, but may be confusing if not dangerous when using a shared repository.

The proposal is to change the default to 'upstream', i.e. push only the current branch, and push it to the branch git pull would pull from.
Another candidate is 'current'; this pushes only the current branch to the remote branch of the same name.

What has been discussed so far can be seen in this thread:

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/192547/focus=192694

Previous relevant discussions include:

To join the discussion, send your messages to: git@vger.kernel.org

VonC_63090

I just put this in my .gitconfig aliases section and love how it works:

pub = "!f() { git push -u ${1:-origin} `git symbolic-ref HEAD`; }; f"

Will push the current branch to origin with git pub or another repo with git pub repo-name. Tasty.

user_690020

A git push will try and push all local branches to the remote server, this is likely what you do not want. I have a couple of conveniences setup to deal with this:

Alias "gpull" and "gpush" appropriately:

In my ~/.bash_profile

get_git_branch() {
  echo `git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/\1/'`
}
alias gpull='git pull origin `get_git_branch`'
alias gpush='git push origin `get_git_branch`'

Thus, executing "gpush" or "gpull" will push just my "currently on" branch.

user_253980

New config in git 2.37.0

Run to set auto setup remote instead of changing the push default behavior

git config --global --add --bool push.autoSetupRemote true

it works well with push.default is to simple, upstream

References: answer tweet docs commit

user_18690000
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